Goodness
by samtempl
Summary: Diana and Edilio have a chat about goodness and heroism over a jar of Nutella. PLAGUE SPOILERS.


Edilio wasn't really afraid of much at this point, after over eight months into the FAYZ. He'd faced almost everything there was to face, both physically and mentally. Guns, baseball bats, bullies. Radiation, whips, zekes. People-eating bugs, a deadly cough. The Darkness. He'd been put through unthinkable stress, loneliness, fear, anger, loss. He was the digger of graves, for God's sake.

And yet a screaming Diana Ladris still managed to scare the living crap out of him.

Edilio knocked on the door of her house timidly. Diana used to live in a houseboat, but then she started getting seasick and moved to a tiny cottage nearby. There were only about four cottages for lake vacationers, and Diana was manipulative and demanding enough to snag one for herself. Pulling the "I'm pregnant" card didn't hurt her case, either.

From inside the cottage came a snappy, "What? Yes, I'm still alive, your concern is touching. Go away, Sam."

"Um, it's Edilio."

"Brilliant," Diana sighed sarcastically.

The door swung open moments later. Diana regarded Edilio with dark eyes. Her expression was sour, as if she was as excited to see Edilio as she was to see the Gaiaphage come a-knocki'.

"If you want me to apologize about earlier, that's not going to happen," she said. "I am not sorry I screamed at you because, frankly, I had to get the screams out. Welcome to my life, _Fourteen and Pregnant: The FAYZ Edition_."

Edilio smiled faintly. "It's alright. Even though you are kinda scary when you scream, Diana."

"And I'm not scary the rest of the time? Wow, I must really be falling behind."

Edilio laughed awkwardly. Diana was clearly looking at him with an "Okay, that was your cue, you can leave now" expression. But Edilio would not be deterred from his mission. And his mission was simply to get to know Diana better. He didn't really like her personality and didn't like submitting himself to be the target to her endless snarky comments, but he respected the girl, too.

Edilio recognized that Diana was lonely. He could very clearly remember when he'd been the new kid at school, having to learn a whole new language and culture. He suspected that Diana was going through the same thing. At the lake, people mostly avoided the former witch if they could help it. She was pretty isolated. Being pregnant didn't help her case, either. Kids whispered things behind her back, calling her "skank" and "whore".

Edilio extended the gift uncomfortably. "Here."

Diana took it and read the label. "Nutella?"

"A nationally recognized peace offering," said Edilio.

She sighed. "I guess I have to invite you inside now." She opened the door wider. "Welcome to my humble abode."

Edilio stepped inside. It was very small and dark inside. There was a tiny kitchen that was untouched as far as he could tell; a living area, complete with a few fake plants, pictures of people fishing happily, and dirty couches; a bathroom that was so small Edilio doubted there was enough room to exhale; and a bedroom. Diana carefully shut the door to the bedroom before he could see what was inside.

"Very nice," Edilio said, dropping onto a couch. "It has good pung-may or something."

Raising an eyebrow, Diana sat on the chair opposite him. "You mean feng shui?"

"Maybe," Edilio said, shrugging indifferently.

"Yeah, well, it's not really working then," Diana said bitterly.

Edilio shrugged again. "I think you'd have to be pretty good feng shui-er to get some positiveness here."

"Wise words from the hero of the FAYZ."

Edilio straightened up, startled by the word _hero_. "I'm not a hero," he said, frowning.

Diana laughed. "And you refuse the title. How the more hero-ish."

"But I'm not a hero. Not like Sam."

"True," Diana said, "But no one can touch Sam in that regard. He's his own category."

Edilio fiddled with his fingers. He hated being called a hero. Yes, he had saved lives and helped wrangle Perdido Beach into something that resembled working order, but he hated the term. He'd been called a hero before many times. A picture of himself wearing skin tight blue leggings and a giant yellow cape came to mind whenever he heard the word.

"Is it hard being so good?" Diana asked suddenly. "I'm guessing it is. You're expected to be perfect all the time, really, and if something is annoying, you're not allowed to say anything because you have to be strong and stable Edilio all the time."

"I…" Edilio just stared at her. He had come into this expecting to learn about her; clearly, she already knew about him.

She smirked. "It's okay, Edilio, let out all your feelings. Auntie Diana is here to help."

"Really?"

"No." She rolled her eyes. "Please, God, do not spill your guts to me or I will kick you out and take the Nutella."

Edilio remembered her screaming before and decided to listen to her advice. Yes, it had really been that scary.

"What about you?" Edilio asked. "What's harder for you, being good or being bad?"

"Being bad," Diana admitted readily. "You don't have to think about it. When you're bad, there's no rules you have to follow. You just do whatever you want and that's that."

"But some people don't _want_ to do bad things," Edilio said.

"Well then they're freakin' angels," Diana drawled, rolling her eyes. "Come on, Edilio. Don't tell me there hasn't been a moment before where you've just wanted to scream and storm out like an angry diva."

Edilio wouldn't be able to count the number of times he'd wanted to do exactly that if he lived forever. "But that's not the point," he objected. "Everyone _wants_ to, but the point is keeping it inside of you."

"And why would you want to do that?" Diana arched an eyebrow. "Just so it can boil up inside of you until you explode?"

Edilio spread his hands helplessly. "I… Don't know. I just… It's the way I am. I don't like upsetting things. It's easier to just let things good for me."

"So based on this argument, do you think that people are naturally good and naturally bad? That some people are born with the talent of keeping their feelings inside and others are flawed?"

If nothing else, the FAYZ had left Edilio plenty to think about. And he'd thought about this very question at great length.

"Yeah," he said simply. "There's just some people who want to do good and will do it and some people who want to do bad and will do it. There are a lot of other influencing factors, like family and environment and friends, but when it comes down to it, it's what inside a person that ends up making the final choice. A straight A student might be influenced to do bad things, but inside that kid will always feel bad, because on the inside he's good."

"That's not a logical way of looking at it," Diana said.

"I never said it was logical."

"Yeah, but…" She ran a hand through her hair tiredly. Her dark hair was noticeably thin and brittle. "That doesn't make sense. People aren't just _born_ with these things, like having brown eyes or blue eyes. We're taught how to behave and act by our parents. There's a reason why certain people are bad. They all have huge dramatic sob stories. Those stories influenced them to be what they are today."

Edilio shook his head fervently. "You really think that some people aren't just plain old _bad_? Plain old _good_?"

"You of all people should know that things aren't always that simple." Diana looked away, out of a cracked and dusty window. A stink bug crawled up the pane but she didn't make a move to smash it. "It's not like in fairy tales where blackness equals bad guys and lightness equals good guys."

"I never said people were sprinkled with fairy dust," Edilio said dryly. "Some things are just inherent."

"But when a good girl who has never done anything bad in her life goes to a terrible school and suddenly starts doing bad things, the _school_ influenced her to do it. She didn't just decide to start getting in trouble all by herself."

"I said that the environment has to deal with it, but it's not the main reason. Who's to say that the girl doesn't want to do those bad things?"

Diana sighed. "I am never going to get rid of you if I reply so I'm just going to shut up."

Edilio twitched her a smile. "Nah, it's because you _know_ I'm right."

She rolled her eyes and unscrewed the cap on the already half-empty jar of Nutella. "No, I _know_ that I'm hungry, so thanks for the food, but no thanks for this soul searching crap."

Edilio grinned and sat forward. "I think you need this soul searching crap most of all, Diana."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Who else thinks Edilio and Diana should be friends, simply because they're so opposite?

Reviews are like nutella. ;D

If you are one of those amazing people who like reading my other GONE fic, _Click!_, never fear. I'm just having some trouble getting going with it. It's not been abandoned.


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